Rowley challenges government – ‘Reveal details of OFAC licence’

Former prime minister Dr Keith Rowley. -

FORMER prime minister Dr Rowley has challenged government to reveal details of the six-month OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) licence it was granted by the US to pursue negotiations for a Dragon gas deal with Venezuela.

He claimed failure to do so could place Trinidad and Tobago under serious threat, jeopardising the future of the children in the country.

He made the call on October 10, a day after Attorney General John Jeremie announced that government had been granted a six-month OFAC licence by the US to begin negotiations with the South-American country for a Dragon Gas deal.

Jeremie did not divulge details of the arrangement but said the licence was granted on October 8, was issued under certain executive orders, and authorised people including employees, affiliates, contractors and service providers employed by or acting on the behalf of TT, NGC, Shell PLC, Futura Clara Ltd and its subsidiaries, to engage in transaction with Venezuelan State-owned energy company PDVSA on the gas deal.

Jeremie said the arrangement entered into by the government was different from what was negotiated by the former PNM administration.

He added while the previous government’s approach was to licence the entire project, on this occasion it is a “tiered approach in which TT was granted a licence that will extend until April 2026.

Jeremie also said the government was able to secure the licence within months at a cost of less than half a million dollars as compared to the former PNM administration, which spent more than $120 million with “nothing to show for it after two years.”

Rowley observed that Government was not speaking to Venezuela directly on the issue as was done by his administration.

He said, “If today, what is required is TT talking to Venezuela to bringing Venezuela around to get us back to where we were on the day when the last OFAC licence was cancelled, if we can’t get that done today, it is largely going to be because of the misbehaviour and the missteps and the misspeaking and the carelessness and the don’t-care-damn of the government dating back to 2016,” Rowley said.

Rowley noted Jeremie did not respond to a question on the issue during his news conference on October 9.

“He couldn’t answer and he was coy and playing smart with foolishness. But that is the kernel and heart of the matter, getting Venezuela to now agree. But you think it is more important to say that the Americans want this and the Americans want that.

“But is Venezuelan gas. So what is more important is what Venezuela wants because there is no plant in Pt Lisas processing OFAC paper. And of course, as we talk about talking to Venezuela, the whole question of who is going to be doing this talking to Venezuela.”

Rowley recalled that former energy minister Stuart Young and others, who were part of the team negotiating the deal, had insisted that the matter remained strictly between TT and Venezuela.

“They would tell you how in the negotiations and the discussions we went out of our way every time it seemed to be going off track to insist that the arrangements on the matter must remain between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela as sovereign states.

“So here we have a situation where the government doesn’t want to tell you or probably cannot tell you which of them is going to Venezuela to negotiate this matter. But they are quite happy to tell you that Shell is there doing it.”

He also recalled Jeremie saying that the government was granted the licence largely because there were interests to be had by American companies.

Rowley said, “That means, it doesn’t have to be Shell. It could be anybody else and if its anybody else, as determined by Venezuela, who will protect Trinidad and Tobago’s interest to ensure that we are at the table, we are in the pipeline and we are at the end of the LNG plant where the money is made? Where will our income come from if others negotiate on their behalf and there is nobody there protecting our interests?”

He added, “This is serious business. This is the future of the children of Trinidad and Tobago and this clown show that the UNC is carrying on is a threat to the children of Trinidad and Tobago.”

The former PM claimed the government, which he led, had respected its multinational partners in the energy sector.